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Tirey Lafayette Ford

Tirey Lafayette Ford (December 29, 1857 – June 26, 1928) was an American lawyer and Republican politician who served as a California State Senator and the 18th Attorney-General of California. He acted as General Counsel for the United Railroads in San Francisco.

Tirey Lafayette Ford
Tirey L. Ford 220.jpg
18th California Attorney General
In office
January 4, 1899 – September 14, 1902
GovernorHenry Gage
Preceded byWilliam F. Fitzgerald
Succeeded byUlysses S. Webb
Member of the California Senate
from the California's 3rd State Senate district district
In office
January 2, 1893 - January 4, 1897
Preceded byM. H. Mead
Succeeded byWilliam F. Prisk
Sierra County, District Attorney
In office
1888–1890
Personal details
Born(1857-12-29)December 29, 1857
DiedJune 26, 1928(1928-06-26) (aged 70)
San Francisco, California
NationalityAmerican
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Mary Emma Byington
Children3
ProfessionAttorney, Politician
Signature

Ford was born on a farm in Monroe County, Missouri, the son of Jacob Harrison Ford and Mary Winn Abernathy. He went to the district county school from 1863 to 1873 and graduated from high school in 1876.[1]

In 1877, at the age of 19, Ford left Missouri and took an immigrant train to Colusa County, California. For three years, he worked on his uncle Hugh J. Glenn's ranch; Hugh Glenn was a Democratic candidate for Governor. Ford became a student in the law office of Colonel Park Henshaw in Chico, California.[2] Ford was admitted to the California bar in August 1882.[3]

In 1882, Ford moved to Oroville to practice law in partnership with Senator Albert F. Jones, under the firm name of Jones & Ford. This partnership lasted for one year when Ford moved to Downieville, California, the county seat of Sierra County, where he practiced law under the firm name of Smith & Ford. He specialized in mining law.[1]

In 1888, Ford was elected as District Attorney of Sierra County on the Republican ticket. He re-elected in 1890 to the office without opposition, the Democrats making no nomination against him.[4]

Ford became Republican California State Senator in 1892 and 1895 for California's 3rd State Senate district, Plumas, Sierra, and Nevada Counties.[5] On March 23, 1893, Senator Ford introduced two bills known as the Ford's Mining Bills, Senate Bill No. 50, which would allow hydraulic mining where it can be done without material injury to the navigable rivers, and Senate Bill No. 389, which would appropriate $250,000 for building restraining dams, provided by the United States Government.[6]

He was appointed attorney to the State Board of Harbor Commissioners in 1894, which office he held until elected Attorney General for the state of California in 1898.[7] Ford solved a difficult legal dispute over ownership of an area known as Channel Street in the San Francisco's harbor leading to the bay. A judgment gave this land for public use to the city of San Francisco.[8]

He served as the 18th California Attorney General 1899–1902. One of his noteworthy acts was the reversal of a decision regarding the inheritance tax on the Leland Stanford estate that converted $250,000 to public schools of San Francisco.[1] He resigned as Attorney General in order to become General Counsel for the United Railroads (URR) of San Francisco.[9][10]

In 1905, Governor George Pardee selected Ford to be the State Prison Director. Ford wrote a book called California State Prisons: their history, development and management, published in 1910.[11] As director, he created a special bureau for paroled prisoners.[1]

In August 1902, Ford was appointed general counsel for the United Railroads of San Francisco.[1] His knowledge of railroad law as of other departments of jurisprudence was comprehensive and accurate, and he stands today as one of the foremost representatives of the legal interests of California.[2][12] As attorney for URR, he was involved in a bribery scandal in 1906, but was later found to be innocent. The bribery scandal was one of the many San Francisco graft trials, which included Mayor Eugene Schmitz and attorney Abe Ruef, who were receiving bribes.[13]

In his retirement, Ford took up historical studies and literary pursuits. In 1926 he published a novel, Dawn and the Dons: The Romance of Monterey, with vignettes and sketches by artist Jo Mora.[14][15]

On June 26, 1928, Ford died in his bed due to a sudden heart attack. He was 70 years old.[16] A funeral service was held at Gary's Chapel on Divisadero Street at Post in San Francisco. He was interred at the family mausoleum, at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California.[17]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Press Reference Library, Notables of the West. New York: International News Service. 1915. p. 124.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Irvine, Leigh Hadley (1905). A History of The New California. New York: The Lewis Publishing Company. p. 469. Tirey L. Ford.
  3. ↑ "The State Bar of California". the State Bar. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  4. ↑ Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 84, Number 144, 4 February 1893
  5. ↑ California State Capitol Museum
  6. ↑ Sacramento Daily Union, Vol. 85, No., 26, March 23, 1893
  7. ↑ San Francisco Newspaper, June 26, 1928
  8. ↑ The Pacific Reporter, Volume 62, September 6 – Dec. 27, 1900
  9. ↑ "Tirey L. Ford Resigns and US Web Will Succeed Him" (PDF). San Francisco Call. September 12, 1902. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  10. ↑ Tirey L. Ford, 18th Attorney General
  11. ↑ Los Angeles Herald, Volume 33, Number 20
  12. ↑ "Attorney-general Resigns Position", Sept. 12, 1902, San Francisco Chronicle
  13. ↑ Bean, Walton (1974). "The Trials of Tirey L. Ford". Boss Ruef's San Francisco: The Story of the Union Labor Party, Big Business, and the Graft Prosecution. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 240, 240–255. ISBN 9780520000940.
  14. ↑ Purdy, Helen Throop (1927). "Dawn and the Dons. The Romance of Monterey by Tirey L. Ford, Jo Mora". California Historical Society Quarterly. California Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Jun., 1927), pp. 195-196. 6 (2): 195–196. doi:10.2307/25177883. JSTOR 25177883.
  15. ↑ WorldCat Reference Dawn and the dons : the romance of Monterey
  16. ↑ Tirey L. Ford Dies at Bay. California. 1928. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=CSH19280628.2.5&srpos=1&e=------192-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Tirey+L.+Ford%22+Found+Dead-------1. Retrieved 2020-02-18. 
  17. ↑ "Index to Politicians". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved 2020-02-18.

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